La Fortuna 1/30-2/1

We thought that La Fortuna was not far enough for our roadtripping skills, and decided to stop by the Santa Maria national park on the way.  The park sounded cool after reading about it in the Lonely Planet guide.  The roads to the park were fine, and we encountered little traffic.

As it turned out when we got to the park we failed (not the first time) to read that the park is closed on a Monday.  We asked the park rangers if there was any way for us to see the park, and they said that there was another entrance that was open.  The trail that started at that entrance did not have the attractions we read about, but we decided to give it a try anyway since we were already nearby.

Skipping the details, we failed to find the other entrance.  The road was clearly not made for tourists travelling by themselves, and there were no signs at all.  But we did see some cool things along the way.

The wind farm:

A road that cut through what appeared to be a hill made of chalk. Everything around was covered in white dust:

And of course a garbage dump, which was especially unexpected next to (or even inside?) the national park:

Having realized that we are not making it to the park we kept going towards Liberia where we had lunch before setting off for La Fortuna.  Liberia is an unimpressive town, and has a strange notion of how one should park on a busy street:

The guard asked me not to park any closer to the car behind me.

We took a few pictures next to Arenal lake.  It was a 3rd time for me, so I knew exactly where to stop for a good picture.  Julie did not always share my opinion, particularly if the spot I picked was windy and/or cold.

At another spot Julie made me get out and take some pictures of the Howler monkeys that were in a tree next to the road.

Once in La Fortuna we again spent a bit of time searching for accommodation.  The hostel that I stayed at last 2 times, which was already more expensive than the other places raised its prices again, with the private room costing around $70.  A very nice hotel next to it however agreed to rent a very nice airconditioned room for $35.

We stayed there 3 nights, and did the standard La Fortuna activities.

Ate good food:

Hiked around the Arenal volcano:

Soaked in the hot springs (no pictures from there since my waterproof camera is no more.)

Celebrated my 34th (thank you baby!)

Having felt the burden of the age I acted all grown up:

There was one more stop we wanted to make before leaving the country, La Paz waterfalls garden next to San Jose.  

2012.01.30 La Fortuna